Responsiveness of the Canadian Occupational Performance Measure

This study evaluated the responsiveness of theCanadian Occupational Performance Measure (COPM), anindividualized, client-centered outcome measure for the identificationand evaluation of self-perceived occupational performanceproblems. We recruited 152 consecutive patients withvarious diagnoses, admitted to the outpatient clinic of twooccupational therapy departments, to complete a COPM interviewand three self-reported health status questionnaires ontwo occasions: prior to the start of occupational therapy treatmentand 3 months later. The three questionnaires were theSickness Impact Profile (SIP68), the Disability and ImpactProfile (DIP), and the Impact on Participation and Autonomy(IPA). We assessed criterion responsiveness by calculating thearea under the curve (AUC) for the receiver operating characteristiccurve and the optimal cutoff values for the COPMscores. To determine construct responsiveness, we calculatedcorrelations between the change in COPM scores and thechange in the SIP68, DIP, and IPA scores. The AUC rangedfrom 0.79 to 0.85, and the optimal cut-off values for the performancescores and satisfaction scores ranged from 0.9 to 1.9.We found significant positive correlations between the COPMscores and the SIP68, DIP, and IPA scores. The capability ofthe COPM to detect changes in perceived occupational performanceissues is supported.